Carlos Alcaraz survived a brutal encounter with close friend Frances Tiafoe at Wimbledon on Friday to keep his title defence on track with a 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 win. The Spanish third seed was out-hit and out-fought for large periods of the match on Centre Court by his US opponent but found an extra gear when he needed to in a match lasting nearly four hours. Alcaraz, bidding to become only the sixth man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back, beat Novak Djokovic in a thrilling final last year. He will face America’s Brandon Nakashima or 16th seed Ugo Humbert of France in the fourth round as he seeks a fourth Grand Slam title at the tender age of 21.

Tiafoe, seeded 29th, put Alcaraz’s serve under intense pressure in the opening set, carving out six break points and taking two of them to win it 7-5.

But the Spaniard slashed his error count in the second set, breaking twice to level the match under the roof on a damp day in London.

Alcaraz fended off another clutch of break points from Tiafoe in the third set but cracked in the seventh game and the American, combining brutal power with finesse, made the crucial breakthrough, whipping up the crowd as he sealed the set.

The champion was in deep trouble at 0-30 in the ninth game of the fourth set but won four straight points to stay on serve.

An energised Alcaraz stepped up a level in the tie-break, powering his way to a 5-0 lead and cupping his ear to the crowd as he pulled level at two sets apiece.

An early break in the decider for Alcaraz emphatically underlined the change in momentum and he repeated the feat to take a 4-1 lead.

Tiafoe held serve to delay the inevitable but Alcaraz served out to love, sealing the deal with a clever drop shot before the two friends hugged at the net.

The two men were meeting for the first time since Alcaraz came out on top in an epic five-set match in the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open on the way to his first Grand Slam title.

Tiafoe won their only other meeting on clay at Barcelona in 2021, when Alcaraz was a 17-year-old wild card.

Carlos Alcaraz raced into the Wimbledon third round on Wednesday to set up a mouth-watering duel with fellow crowd-pleaser Frances Tiafoe as Japanese superstar Naomi Osaka returned to Centre Court for the first time in five years. Alcaraz defeated Australia’s world number 69 Aleksandar Vukic 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2 on the back of 42 winners. The third-seeded Spaniard’s only moments of concern came in the first set when he let slip a 5-2 lead and found himself 5-6 down with Vukic serving for the opener.

However, the three-time major winner steadied the ship to race away to victory against a player who got the better of him in qualifying at the 2020 French Open. 

Alcaraz next faces Tiafoe, the American player he defeated in five sets in the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open on his way to his first Grand Slam triumph.

“I’m going for him,” said Alcaraz, who is bidding to become just the sixth man after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back to back.

“I’m ready to play a really high level of tennis and hopefully take him.”

Tiafoe made the third round by seeing off Borna Coric in straight sets.

‘Love and hate’

Eccentric Fabio Fognini of Italy needed a clutch of match points to knock out eighth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3.

The 37-year-old Fognini, sporting bleach-blond hair, twice served for the match from 5-2 up in the third set before sealing victory over the three-time Grand Slam runner-up in the fourth set.

“It just shows why I love and hate this sport,” said Fognini.

Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, came back from dropping the first set and facing two set points in the second to see off Alexandre Muller of France 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-5.

World number two and US Open champion Coco Gauff cruised into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni.

“I’m happy with the way I played, could have been cleaner on some points,” said Gauff, who broke her 19-year-old opponent five times.

The American, who made her career breakthrough at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old qualifier in 2019, goes on to face British qualifier Sonay Kartal, the world number 298.

The last time four-time major winner Osaka appeared on Centre Court was in 2019 when she was second seed but was dumped out in the first round by Yulia Putintseva.

Five years on, she is ranked at 113 having only returned to the tour in January after giving birth to daughter Shai in July last year.

All-Italian fight

Osaka’s win over Diane Parry in the first round was her first at Wimbledon since 2018.

The Japanese star takes on America’s 17th-ranked Emma Navarro, who arrived in London on the back of a semi-final run at the Bad Homburg grass-court tournament.

Later Wednesday, world number one Jannik Sinner will take on Italian compatriot and former runner-up Matteo Berrettini.

Italian men’s tennis has rarely been stronger, with the country boasting five players in the top 50 while the nation swept to Davis Cup glory last season.

Ten Italian men started the singles tournament this year at Wimbledon.

Sinner was the first Italian man to capture a Grand Slam title with his victory at the Australian Open in January and was also the first from his country to become world number one.

“I feel like in Italy we have so many tournaments, starting with juniors, then the Futures and Challengers,” said 22-year-old Sinner.

“We have big, big ATP tournaments there. We have good facilities and great coaches.”

Berrettini can boast his own breakthrough Italian moment when he was the first to make a Wimbledon men’s final in 2021.

Sinner made the semi-finals at the All England Club last year where he was defeated by Djokovic.

There could be a memorable day for Chinese tennis with teenager Shang Juncheng taking on 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov and 32nd seed Zhang Zhizhen facing Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.

Until Monday, no Chinese man had won a match at Wimbledon in the Open era.